FIG. 1 is an air-bearing surface (ABS) view of a conventional magnetic recording transducer 10 for shingle magnetic recording. In shingle magnetic recording blocks of data are written such that the tracks in a block overlap in one direction. Thus, the bits in one track for the block are written, then the bits for the next track, and so on. Each track in the block except the first track written overlaps a previously written adjoining track along the radial direction. Similarly, each track except the last track is overlapped by a next adjacent track in the block. Thus, the tracks are aligned in a manner analogous to shingles on a roof.
The conventional shingle magnetic recording transducer 10 has an underlayer 12 that may include a leading shield, side gap 14, side shields 16, top gap 17, a top (or trailing) shield 18 and a main pole 20. The main pole 20 resides on an underlayer/leading shield 12. The side shields 16 are separated from the main pole 20 by a side gap 14. The gap 14 between the side shields 16 and the main pole 20 may have a substantially constant thickness.
The main pole 20 includes sidewalls that form a nonzero angle, γ, with the down track direction at the ABS. The sidewall angle, γ, is set based on the skew angle the down track direction of the transducer 10 makes with the media (not shown in FIG. 1). At skew, the down track direction makes an angle with the media down track direction depending upon where in the disk recording is being performed. At a zero skew angle, the down track direction of the head matches the media down track direction. Generally, the skew angle is symmetric around this zero skew angle and reaches a maximum skew angle, βmax. Stated differently, the skew angle generally ranges from −βmax to βmax. For shingle magnetic recording, the sidewall angle is set to be equal to the maximum skew angle (γ=βmax). Typically, this means that the sidewall angle is at least thirteen degrees.
Although the conventional magnetic recording head 10 functions, the conventional magnetic recording head 10 is desired to be used at higher areal densities. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the performance of a magnetic recording head at higher areal densities and, therefore, lower track widths.